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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Freedom: Chobi Mela V Call for Entries

Drifting in cage and out againHark unknown bird does flyShackles of my mindIf my arms could entwineWith them I would thee bind

Rooms it had eightAnd doors it had nineWindows betwixt you findUp above the glittering hallMirrors might make you blind

What fate alas makes bird do thusCaged bird breaks free to flyOf bamboo raw the cage I sawThis mind of mine still longs oh soLalon Fakir cries as he sees with his eyesThe cage wither and go*

The body, the soul, the self, the universe, Lalon saw freedom not as an entity outside oneself, but as a lived experience. Within yet afar. Ephemeral but tactile. With wings but encaged.

New forms of slavery form new forms of chains. Violence suffered in silence. Ancestral land commandeered. Resistance made illegal.

What mask does freedom now wear? Freedom to profit is the new elixir. Freedom to reach distant markets, to exploit cheap labour. The word that takes us to such dizzying heights leaves the deepest of wounds with its loss. ‘Foreign’ sounding names, ‘wrong’ coloured skin, ‘different’ passports, circumscribe our new freedoms.

Going beyond walls built to occupy territory. Beyond bombs dropped to coerce the unarmed. Beyond cells built to hold the other. Artists paint with colours that don’t exist. Write with words as yet un-invented. Photograph where light is yet to reach. The cage. The door. The wing. The soul. Freedom.

We invite photographers working in the fields of photojournalism, fine art, conceptual or any other field of photography, to interpret the theme “Freedom” in the widest sense possible. Submissions may be made online from 1st March 2008 through to 31st May 2008. Selections will be made by 15th June 2008. Final work must be submitted by 31st July 2008. Festival opens 6th November 2008. Submission guidelines will be available online.